Austrian diocese refuses to buy silence of abuse victim

The Diocese of Graz, Austria, has disclosed that it rejected a man's demand to be paid for his silence about sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, seeing the demand as tantamount to blackmail. Bishop Egon Kappellari said that the diocese would not consider paying the man, who was threatening to write a book about abuse. The bishop drew a sharp distinction between providing help for abuse victims and buying their silence. "We rejected the suggestion that the Church should pay hush money as immoral," he said.

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